Vehicle Inter-dependent Control Transmission Architectures - VICTA

This paper proposes a novel hybridized vehicle inter-dependent control transmission architecture (VICTA) that offers key advantages over existing systems. It embodies a compact torque generation system formed by two or more electric machines axially linked through a conventional mechanical differential gear assembly by means of a simple yet innovative pair of co-axial shafts. The resultant electric-mechanical hybridized drivetrain system allows a unique and automatic way of transmitting, differentially and inter-dependently, the electromagnetic torques generated by the motors at either side of differential gear. A realistic virtual prototype of the VICTA based on MATLAB/Simulink modules is developed to validate the concept. Comprehensive performance prediction tests, including steering maneuvering and variations of the road surface, are undertaken. Excellent simulation results from the VICTA virtual prototype demonstrate its stability and motility performance. The results also confirm the VICTA concept has key advantages such as reliability, modularity, high efficiency and simplicity, and yet does not inherit the undesirable features of high unsprung mass or complex software control that continue to challenge and even flaw the existing systems.